Illuminating The Reasons To Get Your Headlights Checked

There is an unseen safety issue on every American road that hardly ever comes to light:  darkened headlight bulbs and hazy headlight lenses, which can lead to reduced visibility. With Daylight Savings Time and all of the wintery, snowy weather, the grave importance of clear nighttime visibility increases.


As time passes, dim and hazy headlight lenses cause a definite reduction in overall visibility. Headlights can lose their effectiveness as a result of dirt, scratches, grime and other such contaminates.

A primary culprit when it comes to dim headlights is the headlight lens. Countless cars on the road right now have plastic lenses. Regrettably, lenses of this type generally don’t hold up well to weather and time; they can easily become hazed and yellowed, lowering the overall light output from the headlamp. The problem goes up with the age of the lens, and with the typical age of cars on the road being at about ten years old, the problem is certainly growing. Futhermore, additional exposure to sun or salt can cause plastic headlight lenses to be hazy.  This is a very common issue on both domestic and foreign cars, and is not simply for less-expensive vehicles. It’s not uncommon for even luxury cars to have headlight lenses that are hazy as well as the more cost-effective vehicles.

Although replacing headlamps and windshield wiper blades are generally a fairly inexpensive repair, the solution for hazed headlights lenses isn't as simple as you might think.  Replacing your headlight lenses can cost as much as $1,500.

Steve's CARSTAR Auto Body Repair in Arnold, MO can restore headlights to their like-new condition in order to maximize night vision and increase clarity when driving. This CARSTAR location can offer you this affordable and quick service to restore the lens surface to greatly improve their light output and visibility on the St. Louis area roads that you drive on the most, not to mention the appearance of their vehicle.

We would like to encourage any car owner that is concerned about their winter weather driving visibility to perform a vehicle visibility safety check before hitting the roads and dealing with all of the darkness and winter weather.

Vehicle Visibility Safety Checklist

Check your windshield wipers -- Change them at least once per year if you notice them streaking

Examine your headlights' brightness – Headlight bulbs naturally dim over time. Park on a fairly level surface facing five feet from a wall and check the display of light.  The circles of light need to be a bright or soft white color, not  a yellow or dim color, and the circles should be even and aligned straight forward on the wall.

Change the bulbs - A good-quality bulb will be much brighter and last quite a bit longer.  Replace both bulbs on the trip, whether or not it seems that they both actually need it.

Check your headlight lens - If you notice any sort of cloudy, milky surface and fail to see the bulb through all of the plastic, you have damage capable of limiting your visibility on the highway.

Restore your headlights – Steve's CARSTAR Auto Body Repair offers you a service to remove that hazy layer of damage that can build up and polish your lenses back to like-new condition.

Check your mirrors - For optimum visibility, be sure that all of your mirrors are in good working condition without cracks.  Damaged mirrors can be replaced without significant cost by stopping by a local salvage yard.

Check your tail lights, brake lights, backup lights and tag illumination lights – Back your vehicle in the direction of a wall and illuminate your rear lights while you watch in your rearview mirror. You can replace these without much effort – and potentially save yourself a traffic ticket.